Sherpas not Gatekeepers in Research Commercialisation.

I met Tony Raven last week. Tony was the Chief Executive of Cambrigge Universities tech transfer office - Cambridge Enterprise.

A big idea I took from our conversations was that research commercialisation really comes down to two questions from the team working on the spin out.

❔Will this invention/technology be good for the world?

❔How can we help?

These questions are optimistic, momentum building and default to the idea of a successful outcome.

We need more 'sherpas' in research commercialisation. People that show the way, carry the maps, help those less travelled to understand that we can get to the destination. And then stay on the journey to the next way point, because the road is long.

In contrast, we actually have too many gatekeepers who make it hard to begin the journey and then vanish when the next stage commences.

I'm not just talking about tech transfer people here. I am looking at you VCs.

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I'm a Partner at Main Sequence, a VC purpose-built to create global companies from scientific ideas with the inventors who imagine them. I build-out-loud here: https://philmorle.substack.com